Government tackles housing challenges: Title deeds, land disputes in focus

Minister of National Housing and Development Daniel Garwe says Government is in the process of addressing a myriad of challenges weighing on real estate development in the country and provision of affordable housing, key among them lack of title deeds.

Zimbabwe, especially in urban centers, battles contentious land ownership wrangles, which create uncertainties for meaningful developments, while desperate home seekers continue to be duped.

Cases around land barons, illegal parcelling out of land, and lack of title deeds rank among the top challenges the Government is seized with, which the Minister said also deter potential investors in real estate developments in the country.

Regarding the lack of title deeds, it has emerged that some families in urban centres have occupied land and houses for decades without title deeds.

“The whole country has got properties that do not have title deeds. The people who have been living in those homes and paying rent to councils for in excess of 40 years, for all technical purposes, they bought those houses,” he said on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe Smart Cities and Devolution Masterclass in Nyanga organised by the Global Renaissance Investments.

“So those houses must now be transferred for ownership to them. That’s part of the programme. Also as Government we have been building properties from the Smiths’ times till now which need to be titled. We are working on various models to ensure that title deeds are processed,” he said.

Last year, President Mnangagwa launched a title deeds programme in Epworth, on the realisation of the need for the private sector to participate in conveyancing of ownership. Cabinet also approved the provision of title deeds for urban and peri-urban housing developments on State and local authority land.

Minister Garwe added one of the initiatives that Government would take is to ensure potential investors are allocated land whose ownership is not disputed.

“Remember you can’t bring an investor on contested land, they will run away,” he said.-ebsuinessweekly